Khamfeuang Thongvanh, Appellee/cross v. John A. Thalacker, Mike Lambert and Larry Brimeyer, Appellants/cross

HENRY WOODS, District Judge.

Khamfeuang Thongvanh is an inmate in the Iowa Men’s Reformatory (IMR), Anamo-sa, Iowa. He filed this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action challenging the IMR rule that all his correspondence — both in-coming and out-going — be in English, except for correspondence with his parents and grandparents. He alleged that the ban on non-English correspondence violated his rights to free speech, due process and equal protection. The jury returned a $4,000 verdict for the plaintiff, from which the defendants appeal. The plaintiff has cross appealed the district court’s decision to enter…